Tag: qdoba

New Restaurant: Qdoba Mexican Grill

The new Qdoba Restaurant up in Carson Valley Plaza opened Tuesday, and we went down to brave the rush for their first dinner. And there was quite a crowd there. It seemed a lot of people had heard about the opening and wanted to try out the new place. But the staff was ready for the crush of people, and even though the line was long, service was nice and speedy.

They sure didn't waste anytime building this restaurant. Back in July it was nothing more than a dirt lot. Now, four months later, it's open for business. That's what I call Getting The Job Done. We need to get these people working on the Ormsby House.

In July

It's not open yet, but they're getting close.

Carson City, or I should say Douglas County, is getting a new Qdoba restaurant soon. Qdoba is part of the wave of "fast casual" Mexican restaurants that have hit Reno in recent years, along with Baja Fresh and Bajio. Places like this are a good balance between going out for a full sit-down meal, like you would at El Charro or Mi Casa Too, or grabbing some overprocessed crap at a place like Taco Bell or Del Taco. The ingredients are fresh, you get your order fast, and while you're not paying 59 cents for a taco, they don't charge $12 for a combo plate either.

Qdoba is the first one of the trio I mentioned to break free of Reno and make their way down south to our area. Even though, out of the three, it's probably my least favorite. I'd be much more excited about seeing a Baja Fresh or Bajio in this space. But, since we're not getting those (not yet, anyway), Qdoba is a perfectly fine substitute. It's always fun to get a new and different place to eat, and I'm sure we'll be seeing the inside of this Qdoba more than I expect.

This construction also marks the last bit of empty space available in the Carson Valley Plaza. When they first built it four years ago, they had left a few pads open for future development. And one by one, they've all been filled in. We never got the sit-down restaurant I was hoping for, something to compete with the Chili's across the street, and there are only a couple of places in the whole shopping center that are local, non-chain restaurants. But there are a lot more dining choices than we had five years ago, so that's something to be thankful for.

I expect Qdoba to be open before the end of the year, at the rate they're building it. More tenants should be filling in the empty storefronts by then too.

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done a construction update post, so let's take a look around town and see what the builders have been up to.

I've been watching the work at Fifth and Stewart for a couple of months now. In that time they took what used to be a grassy field on the northeast corner of the intersection, plowed it under, and built the foundation for what looked like a pretty large building. I wasn't expecting how large it would be, though, until a couple of weeks ago when they started putting up the wall panels.

I'm thinking this is an expansion to the State Printing Office, which is right next door and which this new building actually touches. This two story beast is really going to change the landscape of this intersection.

Bodine's Casino has been working on the ground floor and parking garage for months and months now, and there's not much visible progress to show. But they did put up these signs at the corner advertising the fact that, yes, the new casino will keep the Bodine's name.

The First Presbyterian Church has been steadily working on their new expansion along Division Street.

The concrete for the floor has been poured, and you can see that it makes a semicircle around a central spot, presumably where the pulpit will be. The walls should start going up soon.

The Carson-Tahoe Quail Park is almost finished framing up its first building, and a second one has been started in the background.

The Marriott Hotel at Casino Fandango is almost done with framing too. Just a bit more to go on the roof, then they'll probably start putting on a layer of stucco.

And finally, construction is starting on the last empty parcel left in the Carson Valley Plaza. This is one of the lots in the middle of the parking lot, right next door to the Pita Pit building they just put up last year.

Already Qdoba Mexican Grill has been announced as one of the tenants, and the rest of the space is probably still unspoken for.